Why are failed utopias resurrected?
I’m Professor of Communication at the Department of Communication and Culture, BI Norwegian Business School, and a researcher at the Department of Literature and Rhetoric, Uppsala University. I read the rhetorical tradition, from the ancient sophists to contemporary thinkers, against the problems of our time in politics, diplomacy and the economy.
Quinten Massys, The Moneylender and His Wife, 1514. Louvre, Paris.
Professor, BI Norwegian Business School
Researcher, Uppsala University
Affiliated Docent in Rhetoric, Södertörn University
Funded by Formas
Current research project, 2026–2029
Sustainable Economies? The Swedish Riksbank and Climate Change
The Swedish parliament has instructed the Riksbank to take sustainability into account, but the concept is interpreted differently as the law is put into practice. The project examines how the Riksbank understands and communicates sustainability under its new mandate, and what this says about the democratic accountability of an independent institution.
Research themes
How utopias fail, and why they keep returning
Political Ideologies
The utopia of a people speaking with one voice, and of a society beyond capitalism. Post‑truth, demagoguery, the return of the sophist and the communist idea after communism.
Diplomacy
The utopia of peace through negotiation. The ambassador as a figure and diplomacy as a practice of representation, from the French Revolution to today.
Economy
The utopia of an economy beyond politics. How the independent central bank explains itself, and what happens when it is asked to take responsibility for the climate.
Selected publications
2023
Populism and the People in Contemporary Critical Thought
Bloomsbury Academic, with David Payne and Gustav Strandberg
Edited volume
Rhetoric for experts and institutions
Rhetoric: seeing through language
When a message will be scrutinised, interpreted and answered, speaking well is not enough. I help public authorities, organisations and research environments see their messages through, and see through them before anyone else does.
Courses and workshops
Tailored training for groups, from a half-day to a series of sessions.
Individual coaching
Preparation for the speech, hearing, interview or defence that matters.
Lectures
Research-based lectures for staff days, seminars and conferences.
Writing
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How to Do Things with Interest Rates
Economics What happens when economists finally admit the rhetoric of economics. Alexander Stagnell 7 min read In yesterday’s announcement of the 2026…
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Preliminary Reflections on ’Social Cohesion’ (Part III)
The problem to which a notion like social cohesion refers, is the supposed contemporary division in the people, as if the people…
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Preliminary Reflections on ’Social Cohesion’ (Part II)
Back in 2012, the OECD’s Development Centre focused its annual report on the topic of ‘Social Cohesion’. More specifically, the center had…